You And Me, And All That's In Between
by electricrose
Summary: Ryan and Marissa are best friends, no longer together. Best friends with kids, in fact. But the past keeps cropping up, and you can only deny true love for so long.


_You And Me, And All That's In Between_

_Chapter One - Monday Mornings_

07.00 am. The alarm clock beeped incessantly until a hand slammed down onto it, shutting the irritating noise off. Ryan Atwood groaned as he rolled over in his bed, placing his feet on the cold wooden floor and lifting his arms up to stretch. Yawning, he walked over to his window, opening the blinds for the morning sunshine to pour in. He turned to walk out of his bedroom, a cardboard box standing in his way. He sighed as he pushed it aside with his foot, thinking he really must sort the mess he called his house out. Ryan walked over to his drawers where his wife-beaters lay, pulling one out and shrugging one on with his jeans.

Walking down the stairs, he winced as he saw the television blaring, and the occupant sitting on the floor in front of it, eating cereal.

"Morning, Lexy." Ryan said, walking past her and ruffling her hair as he set foot in the kitchen which joined onto the lounge. The blonde haired little girl did not reply, but turned and gave her dad a bright smile. Ryan grabbed some plates out of the cupboards, setting them down on the worktop.

"Any idea where your sisters are?" Ryan called out, turning on the hob and grabbing the pancake mix from the cupboard. "I'm making pancakes!"

"You didn't think I would miss that, did you Daddy?" Ryan turned as another one of his daughters appeared at the breakfast bar. "Can I have some syrup on mine?"

"Sure, it's in the fridge; this'll take just a minute." Ryan turned back again, pouring the mixture into the pan, and turning the heat up.

"Dad!" A voice shouted down the stairs. "Have you seen my blue sweater?" Imogen's head appeared in the kitchen doorway, face riddled with worry. "We have to wear blue for school today, it's Blue Day! What am I gonna do?"

"Have you checked in your bedroom?"

"Yes!"

"The laundry?"

"Yes!"

"How about your sisters' room?"

"Its not gonna be there, Dad, and I really need it!"

Ryan gave his daughter an exasperated look and was about to say something before he turned round to see the pan smoking, on fire.

"Fu—dge!" Ryan shouted, quickly turning around and turning the heat off, wincing as he tried to prise the burnt, curled up piece of pancake off of the pan and into the bin, knocking the jug over in the process. The kitchen fell into silence, before Kara started laughing.

"Daddy!" She said, in between laughs. "What are gonna have for breakfast now!" Ryan couldn't help but smile as he knelt down to mop up the mess on the floor. Imogen rolled her blue eyes and stomped back up the stairs, whilst Lexy walked through into the kitchen, clutching her teddy bear, her small nose wrinkling at the smell the ruined breakfast produced.

"Daddy, Maxwell's eating my breakfast!" Lexy pointed back in the lounge, where sure enough, the chocolate brown Labrador puppy was slurping away at the milk left in her breakfast bowl. Ryan sighed, taking in the sight, before scooping Lexy up and placing her on a stool next to her sister. He took the bowl away from the dog, and returned to the kitchen to find the two girls looking expectantly at him.

"Go on, Lexy, go get ready." Ryan said to the smaller of the two, who obediently hopped off the stool and ran up the stairs. "And now, looks like its cereal for breakfast Kara…" Ryan scratched his head as Kara nodded her head, before groaning as he heard the doorbell ring. Racing to the front door and careful not to trip on the various toys and boxes which lay on the floor, Ryan successfully made it to the door and opened it to reveal Marissa standing on his front porch with a blue sweater in her hand.

"Hi!" She gave Ryan a cheery smile as she handed him the sweater. "It's Imogen's; she left it at my house last night when you were all round for dinner." Ryan's face was a look of relief as he gratefully took it out of her hands. "I figured she might need it, you were telling me all about her school's 'Blue Day' today."

"Yeah, yeah, I've been looking for it all morning, thanks so much…" Ryan ran a hand through his hair, before opening the door wider. "Come in, sorry it's such a mess…" Marissa smiled as she walked in, carefully dodging a scooter which lay discarded in the porch. Ryan shut the door behind them and the two walked back into the kitchen.

"Kara!" Ryan exclaimed, as he saw his daughter standing in the middle of a puddle of milk and cereal on the floor, with tears in her eyes.

"I'm sorry, Daddy!" Kara replied, the tears threatening to fall. "I was only trying to help!" Ryan sighed, picking her up in his arms and letting her rest on his hip as he picked up the now soggy cereal packet.

"Its okay, Kara…" Ryan said, placing the packet neatly in the garbage, and wiping up the mess on the floor. Kara smiled at Marissa from Ryan's shoulder, waving a sticky hand at her, as Marissa waved back.

"Hi Kara!" Marissa said, relieving Ryan of her weight as she picked Kara up. Ryan turned as he smiled gratefully at her, before picking up the sweater that lay on the counter and hurried up the stairs to give it to Imogen. "What are you gonna do today?"

"Well…" Kara replied, taking a deep breath. "Daddy said we could go to the park after we dropped Imogen at school so I can play on my scooter! Look, I'll show it to you, Uncle Seth bought it for me!" Kara jumped out of Marissa's arms and ran out to the lobby, picking up the scooter which lay on the floor and showing it to Marissa.

"Wow that sure is a nice scooter!" Marissa replied, bending down to Kara's level. Kara beamed up at her.

"Look, watch!" Kara hopped on the scooter, and proceeded to scoot around the lounge with it, before promptly bashing into the sofa. Scrambling up, she quickly pointed at her knee. "I think I need a band-aid, one of the Barbie ones, I hurted my knee!" Marissa smiled as she bent down to inspect her seemingly fine knee, but took her hand and led her back out to the kitchen to search for a band-aid anyway.

"Kara?" Ryan called as he entered the kitchen. "Hey what happened?" He asked, concerned as Marissa placed a band-aid over Kara's knee.

"Oh, nothing, it's okay now Daddy, my Mommy putted a band-aid on it!" Kara smiled happily hugging Marissa. "Can I go get ready for the park now Daddy?"

"Go on then, sweetie." Ryan said, smiling as Kara skipped happily back upstairs. As soon as she had gone, Ryan sunk onto the stool, happy to be off of his feet for a few seconds.

"Long morning, huh?" Marissa leaned back against the counter with a mug in her hands, watching Ryan's tired face break out into a yawn.

"That hard to tell?" Ryan replied, smiling. "I just really need to get this house sorted out, it's a tip."

"Well, I can always help you; I have the week off while Richard's out of town." Marissa answered, washing her mug out and placing it on the draining board. "It shouldn't take too long."

"Yeah, you haven't seen how much stuff Imogen owns!" Ryan laughed, getting up of his stool, glancing at his watch. "At the rate this morning's going, Im's gonna be late for school, and I gotta take Kara and Lexy to the park before I go to work…"

"Hey, I can drop her off, it's no problem." Marissa said, shrugging her shoulders. "It's on my way through Newport, I'm gonna go see Summer anyway."

"Are you sure?" Ryan said, running another nervous hand through his hair, Marissa nodded, before shooing him out of the kitchen.

"Go on, go get ready!" Marissa said, laughing as Ryan ran up the stairs.

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"So, Blue Day huh?" Marissa said, as she started up the engine, before buckling up and checking Imogen's seatbelt was done up too.

"Yeah, it's a stupid idea." Imogen said, as she leant her head against the window, her school bag on her lap.

"Aw, I think it's a pretty good idea." Marissa replied, flicking on the radio and pulling out onto the highway.

"Mom said it's a stupid idea." Imogen replied quietly as she looked out of the window. Marissa quickly looked at her, before turning her head back, unable to think of what to say.

"Well, I'm sure she wouldn't if she saw how pretty you look in your blue sweater." Marissa answered, as Imogen turned her head and smiled at Marissa.

"I can tell her on Saturday, can't I?" Imogen asked. "Daddy said I'm going to her house for the weekend." Marissa nodded.

"Yep, you sure can." Marissa said, changing the radio station yet again. "You can tell her about that gold star you got for good behaviour as well!" Imogen smiled excitedly, her mood completely changed, she chatted happily for the remainder of the drive, stopping abruptly as Marissa pulled up in the school parking lot

"Have a good day!" Marissa smiled, as Imogen picked up her Winnie the Pooh backpack from the floor of the car, before hugging Marissa tightly across the seat.

"Thank you for taking me to school Marissa." Imogen said as she pulled back and began to climb out. Marissa smiled after her as she ran into the entrance of the school to join her friends.

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"Hey!" Ryan smiled, squinting in the sunlight, one hand steadily on the swing as he saw Marissa approaching the playground. "Imogen get to school okay?"

"Yep, it was fine." Marissa nodded her head in reply whilst fiddling with her car keys.

"Thanks for doing that…" Ryan answered, stopping the swing so Kara could get off and join her sister playing on the slide. "I thought you were gonna go see Summer?" Marissa shrugged.

"I need to talk to you." She said, watching Ryan as his face turned to that of a confused one.

"Okay, sure."

"I want to take Lexy and Kara for the week."

"Marissa, you know you can have them whenever you want, you don't need to ask me." Marissa nodded, and smiled with relief.

"I know, I know….but it's just, I don't want things to be awkward, ya know?" Marissa replied quietly, looking down at the brightly coloured tarmac floor.

"Yeah, well…" Ryan replied. "I think we've already done a good job of that." Marissa looked up, then back down again, laughing slightly.

"I guess…" She said, feeling a tug at her leg as she looked down, smiling at the sight of Lexy standing at her feet. Bending down to pick her up, she rested her on her hip as she brushed the blonde hair out of her blue eyes.

"Hey, Lex..." Ryan said. "You okay with staying at Mommy's house this week?"

"Yay!" Lexy clapped her hands together happily. "Mommy has my Barbie bike!" Marissa smiled.

"Yep, and you can play on it all week if you want." Marissa replied, spotting Kara coming over.

"Daddy, can we go home now? I'm bored…" Kara whined, tugging on Ryan's hand.

"Sure, but you're gonna go back to Mommy's house, okay?" Ryan asked, looking down at the little girl, who smiled.

"Okay." Kara replied, sticking a thumb back in her mouth. Marissa smiled at the sight.

"Okay, well…I guess, I'll pick them up later?" Marissa asked, placing Lexy gently back down and looking pointedly at Ryan, who nodded.

"Bye babies!" Marissa smiled, bending down to give them both a great big hug. "I'll see you later!" She threw a wave behind her as she jogged back to her car, Ryan waving after her.

"Hey, Daddy, why can't you come and stay at Mommy's house too?" Lexy asked, as he clipped them both back into the double pushchair. Ryan gave a short laugh.

"Because Mommy wants to spend some time with the two of you." Ryan replied, gripping the handle and pushing it back towards the parking lot. "Now come on, let's go and get your stuff packed for the week."

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_A/N:- Wow, I know that must have been confusing, I'm sorry! Basically, Ryan has three daughters, Imogen, who's 6 and has just started school, and Kara & Lexy, who are 3 year old twins. Imogen is Ryan's daughter from another relationship, whilst Kara & Lexy are Ryan and Marissa's children. Ryan and Marissa aren't together anymore, but they have still remained really good friends, like best friends. Ryan has just moved places, hence the messy house and the stressed out morning. So yeah, hope that kind of clears anything you didn't get up, and please review, it's my first story, tell me if its good or not! Thanks for reading._


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